Thread by @serbiaireland

Thread: This is "ognjište" a central hearth found in traditional Balkan Slavic houses...The word comes from "oganj" (fire) and so "ognjište" literally means fireplace...

Ognjište was a sacred place, the centre of the domestic cult, where "sacred" "eternal" fire burned all the time maintained by the housewife...It was also the house altar where sacrifices were made... oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2019/12/fire-g…
oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2019/12/bride-…
oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/07/blesse…

When a new house was built, the new house fire had to be either brought from the old house, or if that was for some reason not possible, it had to be ritually kindled using a fire-drill... oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-ho…

Ognjište was also the place where all the food was prepared...Stews and soups were cooked in cauldrons hang on "verige" chain which was also considered sacred...

oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2019/12/verige…

Or they were cooked in clay pots on the paved area around or in front of the hearth/fireplace with hot coals piled around the base. Very efficient way of cooking as the heat rises up through the pot...

Bread was baked on the same paved area around or in front of the hearth/fireplace, under clay/metal tops covered with hot coals.

Now....The interesting bit 🙂 The Ancient Greek equivalent of "ognjište" is "ἑστία" (hestía) also found as ἱστία (histía), meaning "hearth, fireplace, altar, (figuratively) house, family"...The etymology unknown, believed to be Pre-Greek.

etymology_el_en.enacademic.com/2625/ἑστία

This Ancient Greek word doesn't have any IE Cognates...Except one. Another Slavic word meaning "hearth, paved area around or in front of a hearth, fireplace, oven". That word is Jesteja (pronounced Yesteya) also found as Jestej (Yestey) Isteje (Eestye)...

juls.savba.sk/ediela/ks/2010…

I couldn't find any etymology of these words...But considering that their meaning is "the place where fire burns and where food is prepared" maybe they come from the Proto-Slavic *ěsti, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *ēˀstei, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti meaning "to eat"???

Which would make Jesteja (Yesteya) the place where fire burned and food was cooked...Which is exactly what "ognjište" and hestia was...

Interesting...